The case for a new medical cohort: teliatrics

Although medical specialities exist for the branches of medicine concerned with the extremes of the life span (neonatology, pediatrics, adolescent medicine and geriatrics), no such attention has been directed to the characteristic medical conditions of adults in their prime, ages 45-64. Based upon the justification that such a cohort should be identifiable demographically and chronologically as well as clinically significant, the Baby Boom Generation (those individuals born between 1946 and 1964) deserves considerably more attention than it has received. The expected growth and clinical importance of this cohort over the next 20 years will be significant for health care policy makers and providers of health care services. This paper discusses the realities of this notable cohort and introduces a new word to describe this group more scientifically. Words, derived from Latin and Greek, are used extensively in the medical literature and provide much of the foundation for clinical nomenclature. The word is teliatrics, introduced here to complement the current medical nomenclature.